On 4 July 1925, Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald captioned a photograph of “Mr A.H. Barnes, a Sydney motorist, and the Th. Schneider car in which he lowered the Adelaide to Melbourne record. The time was 12 hours 10 minutes for 573 miles.”

It was a remarkable achievement in 1925. Australia’s Great South Road (now the Hume Highway), which was a main thoroughfare since 1814, linked the two cities and was not fully paved until the 1940s. Prior to the mid-1930s, it was a popular venue for unauthorised speed trials.

Théophile Schneider entered the French motor industry early, teaming with Édouard Rochet to build the Rochet-Schneider automobile at Lyon in 1894. Schneider, however, moved on in 1910, to a factory at Besançon, where he entered automobile manufacture on his own. His first car was a 1,850-cubic centimetre, four-cylinder model with a radiator behind the bonnet, which was a style that would become familiar on Renaults. Under the badge of Th. Schneider, they entered numerous races in the 1912 to 1914 period, with the best success being a 2nd place finish in the Grand Prix de France.

The firm resumed auto manufacture after the war and transitioned to stylish vee-shaped front-mounted radiators. The 4½ litre six, of which this car is an excellent example, was built through 1924.

Just three 6-cylinder Th. Schneider cars were imported into Australia. At £1,950 in chassis form, they were nearly twice as expensive as the 4½-Litre Bentley. Two of them were bodied by Domain coachworks of Melbourne, as the Adelaide to Melbourne Speed car was, and this is clearly one of the two, as it still bears the Domain signature on its sill plates. According to the consignor, it is strongly believed to be the speed record car mentioned. It was fully restored in the late 1960s, and it has only been in two long-term ownerships since. The last long-term custodian has owned the car since the early 1990s, and he commissioned a major engine rebuild in 2012.

The car is original in virtually all respects and has matching numbers. It is ready to be enjoyed, as only a modest re-commissioning is needed before returning it to the road and long-distance rallying. Surviving six-cylinder Th. Schneider cars are rare, and it is believed that this is the only running example with its original body. Compared to its rivals, such as the Vauxhall 30-98 or the 4½-Litre Bentley, this 1921 Th. Schneider represents superb value in today’s marketplace.